Ephraim and Eirika: White Renais
by Mace The Manakete
Summary: A special Ephraim and Eirika episode that finds the twins and their friends locked inside Renais Castle due to a violent snowstorm.
1. The One with White Renais pt1

**Disclaimer: Fire Emblem - The Sacred Stones is a belonging to his respective corporation and creator: Nintendo and Intelligent Systems. **

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Ephraim and Eirika – The Sacred Twin Life

* * *

**—_**The One with White Renais—**_

"Innes!"

The joyous scream of King Hayden of Frelia caught his son Innes by surprise. Innes was in the Castle's Family room decorating the snow white colored Christmas Tannenbaum when he nearly fell off the ladder. But he quickly caught a branch and knocked down a few ornaments.

Hayden entered the room to see him in an awkward position on the tree.

"Oh hi father." Innes grinned, "Is something amiss or is it just me?"

"Oh something's amiss all right." Hayden remarked Innes's awkward posing, "You're decorating, not tree climbing."

Innes jumped off the tree and onto solid floor.

"Anyway, guess what I snatched up from the home shopping bazaar downtown?"

"A new wife?"

Hayden stared at Innes, not amused, "No." he pulled out a small pack of tickets off his pocket, "I got free two front seat tickets to the classic theater play of the masterpiece 'Holy War/Sword of Seals Orchestra'!"

"No way!" Innes grabbed the tickets, "Sword of Seals _and _Holy War? At an orchestra?! Boy, do we look good when we're spoiled brats?"

Tana entered the room. Seeing his sister pushed Innes toward her in a rush, "Tana! Guess what we've snatched? Our Christmas present!!" he showed her the tickets, expecting a cheery response from her.

Instead, the usually-full-of-life princess of Frelia sounded depressed, "Uh. Uh. Yeah. Sure." She said in a hollow tone before heading down the hall into her chamber.

Innes and Hayden looked at each other questionably.

"Is it just me or did I offended her?" Innes asked.

A loud door slam resounded in the castle.

Hayden nodded, "Yeah, you offended her."

* * *

"Whoooooooooo-Hoooooooooo!!"

Ephraim and Lyon crashed hard on the snowy mountain ground. They screamed as they slid down the mountain hill at a fast pace on their woody sleigh. The sleigh left the hill and slowed down the solid mountain plateau.

"That was fun!" Ephraim yelped.

"Let's do it again!" Lyon cackled.

"What do you say Eirika?"

No response. Ephraim and Lyon looked around the snowy foggy land for the Renais princess, but she was nowhere to be sighted.

Ephraim began to fret. After all, Eirika was his twin sister. He would blame himself—mostly her—for whatever happens to her. Lyon was both the twins' best friend since they were just kids. He was worrisome too, but unlike Ephraim, this prince from the Grado Empire was very emotional.

"She's gone." He murmured.

Ephraim barked, "How am I supposed to find that darn-tooting twin sister of mine when this time of day at this exact period should be our playtime?"

"Don't remind me." Lyon replied, "First she says she has no time for sleigh riding and then she said she's going to rehearse." Lyon faced Ephraim, "Rehearse what?"

GROWL!

AAAH!! Ephraim and Lyon jumped.

A colossal abominable snow yeti stood right in front of them. Its eyes fixed on the princes caused it to salivate. The princes screamed and hugged in fear…until the yeti ripped off his mask. It was Eirika.

She had a huge grin on her face, "That was awesome!!" she exclaimed, "You should have seen your faces!!"

"You call that rehearsing?" Ephraim furiously jumped on Eirika but she dodged. Ephraim tripped on a rock and cascaded down a steep hill. He screamed so loud as he kept falling down, down, down… his scream faded through the foggy wind.

POOF!

Eirika and Lyon panicked at the harsh landing sound.

"Ephraim!!" Eirika shouted.

"Are you all right?" Lyon asked.

"I'm okay." Ephraim sounded hurt, "My leg broke my fall."

* * *

-Castle Renais-

Seth, Kyle, and Franz stared proudly at the eight foot Christmas tree installed right in the middle of the castle throne room.

"We have the tree, we've installed the lights, now we're ready for the fun part." Seth looked over the throne room, so does the two knights. The Renais knights watched Forde struggling on his fragile legs into carrying a heavy crate of ornaments and decors.

He slammed the crate on the ground and collapsed on his knees, out of breath, "Would it kill you all to put these ornaments in _small_ crates?"

"Careful Forde!" Kyle ran toward the crate, "This box is fragile, and so are the ornaments!"

"I'm fragile too, and you're not worried that I'll break?" Forde wheezed.

"Unless you want to accept you being a weakling, I heard from women that they're looking for tough manly knights in red armor to date." Seth pointed out.

Forde's face lit up, "Really?! Then that means I'm qualified!"

"Actually that's where you're wrong Forde." Kyle grinned, "They're looking for tough manly knights in red armor, nor feebly womanly ones like you."

The door to the throne room swung open, cutting off the insult Forde was about to inflict on Kyle. Lyon dragged a wounded Ephraim, laying on the wooden sleigh. Eirika was guiding them through, still suited in her yeti costume but without any mask.

"I'm so, so sorry Ephraim." Eirika whimpered, "If I knew you would have jumped like a scaredy cat or a whiny little five-year old, I wouldn't have jumped on you."

Ephraim's face darkened. With Eirika, there was absolutely _no_ level of support.

"Yeah, thanks for the concern," he then formed an insulting smile, "but it's not your fault. It was your unshaved hairy legs. I was so shocked; I lost sight of where I was going."

"Oooh!!!" the knights couldn't help but laugh at Ephraim's comeback. Now Eirika's face darkened. She angrily lifted the wooden sleigh up then slammed it hard on the floor. CRASH!

Ephraim yelped in pain, "My leeeg!!! My leeeg!!!"

"Princess Eirika! It's okay to be angry but don't take it out on your brother's leg!" Seth blurted.

"Yeah, Eirika. Don't take it out on my leg!" Ephraim whined.

"Well you deserved it." Eirika blurted out back.

"For insulting your beauty?" Ephraim sneered. Eirika was about to jump on Ephraim again but the knights restrained her before she could reach him.

Fado along with Vigarde came in the scene, "What is going on here?" Fado shouted, "Eirika! Let your brother be! Ephraim! What happened to your leg?! You know we gotta go to the mall and do some men shopping!!"

"I'm sorry father." Ephraim said, "I would have been fine if it wasn't for Eirika!"

"Oh-Oh!" Eirika formed a fist. Just as she was about to go rampage on her brother, Hayden, Innes and Tana arrived.

The gang stopped to greet their guests merrily but Tana simply greeted without even forming a smile. Eirika wondered what was up with her best friend but that wasn't too much of a concern for her.

"Guess what father and I got: tickets to the Holy War/Sword of Seals Theatre Play!" Innes waved the tickets oh-so-proudly.

"A musical?" Eirika raised a brow.

Innes frowned, "Not a musical," he smiled again, "A _battle _musical. And it's happening today at the shopping center!"

"What more reasons to head down there to do some holiday stuffs," Ephraim beamed, "shopping and two corny musicals."

"HEY!" Eirika and Innes shook fists at Ephraim.

"And what's the holiday without people helping out on decorations?" Forde got everyone's attention as he waved the tinsel around. He really didn't want to decorate all by himself and his fellow knightly colleagues wouldn't help out either. "There're plenty of ornaments y'all!" he said.

"Let it go Forde." Kyle said, "You're decorating and that's that."

"Sorry, knights." Ephraim said, "Love to help but my leg has gone numb thanks to an ape." He said the word 'ape' when throwing Eirika a glance.

"You say ape again and you'll get a leg ache." Eirika threatened.

"Y'know knights." Fado began, "decorating the tree is part of spreading the joy of Christmas here at Magvel. In fact, there's an old folklore that proves this with the Christmas star. It is said that the person who's in charge of putting the star on top the tree, will be blessed with joy and fortune all year long."

"But then again, that was something our parents would told us every Christmas when we were infant and naïve." Vigarde said.

"Yeah, I remember that. How foolish we were to believe in our parents." Hayden sighed.

"You told us the same thing too!" Innes said.

Hayden froze, "Did I?"

"Yeah, father!" Eirika faced Fado, "So what are you saying? We didn't get joy and fortune when it was our turn to put the star on top?"

Lyon didn't say anything. He only eyeballed Vigarde with a stare of total submission. Vigarde gulped.

"Well, would you look at the time?" Fado squawked, "Our cookies must be done!" He fled, so did Hayden and Vigarde. The teens chased them into the kitchen.

"Who knew the star would give joy and fortune all year long." Forde could picture himself drowning happily into a sea of gold, "What great motivation!"

"Great indeed." Kyle faced Forde, "Say Forde, you must be tired. How about I take over the—"

"I don't think so pal!" Forde barked, like he was about to rip Kyle's head off, "You said it yourself that it's my job to decorate, so a job it'll be."

"You're just in it for the fortune." Kyle said.

"You're just in it for _my _joy and fortune!"

"How about we split the decoration fifty-fifty?" Seth proposed, "That way it's half the joy, half the fortune, half both. And besides, there's no such thing as joy and fortune for a whole year. You heard the emperor. It's pure fiction."

"If you think so, how come you're holding the Christmas Star close to your chest like it's your wife?" Franz exposed Seth, holding tightly on the star like he was not willing to give it up without a brutal fight.

"Put the star down, general." Kyle said.

Seth hissed, "NO!"

* * *

The monarchs and the teens were at the castle halls when they took notice of the white-blanketed courtyard grass and the flakes falling gently without the blowing winds.

"Isn't the snow beautiful?" Eirika sighed.

"It sure is…but something's not right." Fado said.

"What?"

"I don't see any doors."

Innes chuckled, "Okay, just because you don't see a door, doesn't mean that we're snowed in the castle. Imagine that."

A blow horn sounded all over the castle. The city majordomo boomed.

"This just in! The entire kingdom of Renais is now experiencing an endless possibility of snow. All residents, stores, villages, and schools have been closed down due to the snow and will remain at this state for at least three days."

"Three days?!" The gang shouted.

"But tomorrow's Christmas Eve!" Lyon said.

"And what about my theater plays?" Innes cried.

"And my musical?" Eirika balked.

"And our last-minute shopping spree and our free caroling?!" Fado, Hayden and Vigarde replied, "Our musical number is 'Gloria'!"

"We're doomed!" Eirika muttered.

* * *

NEXT CHAPTER...

* * *


	2. The One with White Renais pt2

**Disclaimer: Fire Emblem - The Sacred Stones is a belonging to his respective corporation and creator: Nintendo and Intelligent Systems. **

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**"This just in," introduced the weather reporter in her latest forecast, "Our latest snow coverage reports high degree of snowstorm at most of the central part of the Magvel continent. While countries like Frelia and Grado are experiencing minor snowfalls, while Jehanna and Rausten just opened up their umbrellas for some slight afternoon rain, the country of Renais has fallen under the white weather spell as heavy snowstorm is currently happening throughout the entire kingdom. Folks of Renais: Get ready to have a White Christmas and a White New Year, 'cause the snow may last for more than three days if no changes are made." 

The gang huddled up on their TV screen to listen, "And due to this severe condition, all businesses and academies are closed for the remainder of the year."

"Christmas is doomed!" Eirika cried.

"It's not doomed yet. Let's not panic." Fado said, "We still can find something that's amusing and makes us busy."

"Something like work?" Innes raised an eyebrow.

"No, something like fun."

"I'm just happy it's snowing." Tana's smile caught everyone's attention.

"Really?" Eirika said, "You like the snow huh?"

"No." her smile then formed into a frown, "I like the fact that these white covered things have now secluded that thing we now referred to as Christmas."

With that, she left the gang and headed off somewhere. The gang went completely silent. Not being able to go to the mall due to the snow was one thing to hurt their holiday spirit, but Tana's words really were the ones to finish the job.

"That thing we called Christmas…?! _THAT THING WE CALLED CHRISTMAS??_" Innes howled, "What in stinking butt is _wrong _with that Scroogy Grinchy _witch!!_"

"Now, Innes. There's no need for name-calling people who aren't into the Christmas spirit." Hayden told his son, "Even if they _are _Scroogy Grinchy witches."

"What's up with Tana anyway?" Eirika asked.

"OH I DUNNO!" Innes barked, "GO ASK HER Y'SELF! YOU'RE HER BEST FRIEND, NO? I don't want my holiday to be bummed out."

"I wish I could, but my back's still painfully stiff from the fall." Ephraim was on his wheelchair, drinking a cup of his hot cocoa that Fado made for him, "Plus, I'm not like girls, who as we all know are all wishy-washy."

Eirika, instead of being argumentative, simply gave Ephraim a look of confusion and wonder, "Wait a minute, I thought it was your leg that was broken."

Ephraim gulped, "What did I just say?"

"You said your back was still in pain."

"Well, the pain kinda went up." Ephraim hesitated, "It happens to some people."

"Eirika, please leave your brother be." Fado smiled before rubbing Ephraim's green hair playfully, "He just needs more care."

Eirika squinted curiously, "Riight."

* * *

As the orchestral masterpiece of Miniature Overture from the Nutcracker Suite filled the throne room warmed by the crisping fireplace, Kyle placed the last ornament and let out a sigh of relief. He never thought that he and the knights would finish the tree decoration in time, but they were able to in less than four hours thanks to some encouraging words from the king of course.

"Perfect. The tree is set up. The decorations are all done. Now time for the fun part…the star."

Franz looked around the the giant golden ornament, "Speaking of star, where is it?"

"It disappeared." Seth said.

"Hey guys! Check out the snow!" Forde called the knights by the windows. The three knights went to look outside. The snow was so beautiful they lost focus of their tasks.

"It really is snowing. Hard even." Franz mentioned the howling of the wind.

"It's kinda too bad that all stores and businesses are closed." Seth said.

"But at least, it'll be a white Christmas, right Forde?"

There was no answer.

The knights turned around and caught Forde at a ladder on top of the Christmas tree, holding the star high up the tree top.

"HEY!" they shouted and ran toward Forde and the tree. Suddenly the background music changed to a fast tempo version of the Nutcracker's Suite's Trepak as Kyle tackled the ladder. Forde screamed and tried to hold on dear to life. He grabbed a branch as the ladder went for the floor, taking with it the star.

Luckily, Kyle caught it before it landed on the ground. Kyle suddenly felt a heavy tackle behind him and let go of the star. The star is caught by Seth, who caused the tackle. Seth was stopped halfway near the exit by Franz, armed with the lance. Franz ordered Seth with the lance to drop the star, but Seth didn't let go. He then threw the star up in the air and Franz watched as it went down, down, down.

Seth jumped and caught the star in midair and ran, only to get tripped by both Forde and Kyle. The star landed on both their hands.

_Tuh-duh!_The music went.

Kyle pulled the star, but Forde didn't let go.

_Tuh-duh!_The music went again.

This time Forde pulled the star, but Kyle didn't let go.

_Tuh-duh… Tuh-duh… Tuh-duh! Tuh-duh! Tuh-duh! Tuh-duh!_

The star flew off their hands. Forde and Kyle watched Seth did a roll jump above them and grabbed the star again in midair.

He landed on his feet to be stopped by Franz with the lance again. Seth shook his head and a finger. With that finger, he _Twack_! the lance off Franz's grasp, grabbed it and was now pointing it at Franz. Franz then pulled out his sword and with a backslash attack, halved the lance in two.

Seth then pulled out his Silver Lance. The two posed for combat. Kyle and Forde joined in. Kyle had his sword and Forde had his lance. The knights clashed weapons until…_whoosh!_

The star went flying…then descended toward the ground. And as the music came to an abrupt end, so did the star.

"No!" Kyle screamed, "You've shattered the Christmas Star!!" He eyeballed Forde, "You did this on purpose!"

"Me?" Forde exclaimed, "You're the one who pushed the ladder!"

"Clearly this is Franz's fault." Seth accused.

"Me?" Franz yelped, "How is that my fault?! You were all over the star in the first place for crying out loud!"

"Okay, you know what? This whole argument isn't helping." Seth said, "How about we try to fix the star?"

"Face it numbhead. The star are in thousand pieces. There's _no way _we'll be able to fix it."

"Numbhead?" Seth exclaimed, "Instead of coming up with pointless insults, try coming up with ways to improve your grammar. 'The star are in thousand pieces.' I mean come on!"

"That _was_good grammar if you didn't know…from your grandmother's generation."

Seth's eyes burned in rage. He jumped on Kyle and all the knights went into a verbal, almost physical frenzy.

* * *

"Cocoa! I looove cocoa! Whoaa!" Ephraim would exclaim at every sip of his peppermint hot cocoa with mini marshmallows on it, made by Fado and Lyon. The peppermint flavor was Lyon's idea. Ephraim was still reclining on his wheelchair, but he was sporting a housecoat over his underwear, and his hair was so messy, it was like he woke up from the wrong side of the bed.

"How are you feeling now, Ephraim?" Lyon asked Ephraim with concern.

"Like a spring chicken…" he then formed a cringing expression, "…if I could…hey, father. What do you say that for my Christmas present, I would love a 5000 gold member Gift Card and a Crystal Gem!"

"Wow, a crystal gem?!" Fado gulped, "These things are expensive!"

"Yet popular to the market." Ephraim said.

"Well, since it's Christmas…"

Tana entered the family suite and grabbed the hot cocoa from Ephraim.

"HEY!" Ephraim yelled.

Tana sipped the hot coca. She looked so gloomy, Ephraim got contaminated.

"Hi." She said glumly. She then strangely stared at Ephraim, "What did you do?"

Ephraim embarrassingly twirled his hair.

"Tana, do you wanna try out my peppermint cookies? They taste just like the real thing." Lyon offered.

"I'll taste it when I'm good and gone from this world." She said.

"Tana, that's not the Christmas spirit." Eirika entered the scene, wearing the abominable snowman costume. Ephraim rolled his eyes and let out a grunting sigh, "Not that thing again. What are you, Eirika Frost? Or Frosta the snowwoman?"

"So Tana. Wanna help me rehearse on my winter musicale?"

"Newsflash: your show got cancelled due to the snow." Tana said.

"So?" Eirika shrugged, "That doesn't mean otherwise."

Tana turned to leave, but Eirika blocked her road, "Hey! How about we decorate the tree? Or bake cookies or drink eggnog. Have a girl chat? Saay…we could fill Ephraim's stocking with crushed coal and superglue."

Ephraim heard that, "HEY!"

"Thanks but no thanks. Your knights already decorated the tree, I'm not hungry or thirsty, I don't wanna talk, and Ephraim is doofus enough to fall for that."

"That's right…" Ephraim paused, before facing Tana, "HEY!"

"Quick question, Your Majesty." A fretful Kyle entered the suite to ask Fado, "It's about the Christmas Star. It doesn't _have _to be on top of the tree, right? It can be anything else, right? _Riight? _You better say I'm right."

"Of course not." Fado said and Kyle let out a sigh of relief. But the king wasn't done, "But it has always been a tradition here at the Renais Castle. Plus the Christmas Star we have is completely irreplaceable."

Kyle's eyes stretched out high.

Ephraim then added, "The last thing we want to happen to make this a bad Christmas was if some inexperienced lowlife breaks this ten-thousand-year old antique once belonging to King Renais's Christmas tree."

_Squeal!_Kyle's jaw dropped as he released a high-pitched screech, so did the spying knights. The star was priceless?!

"Why do you ask?" Fado faced him, sensing tension in Kyle.

Kyle felt frozen, in that situation where he had to choose between telling the truth or living a lie. He chose the easy way and not in a good way.

"Well…it was just a mere coincidence. See, we were thinking about putting an angel on top instead of the star. See, we wanted to save the star for…y-yknow… next year. But if it's t-tradition…bye!"

He fled the room and the knights got dragged along.

Fado's suspicious look grew.

"I think they're up to something." Ephraim said.

"Oh, they're up to something all right." The king's eyes narrowed.

Eirika focused her attention back on Tana, "all right, Tana. If you don't wanna hang out, then how about we hang in. You know what I'm saying?" she giggled, "B-because we're inside and we're like, hanging in?" she laughed.

Tana shook her head, "That's not funny. Now if you'll excuse me. I gotta use your bathroom. I think your brother's cocoa makes me wanna hurl."

As soon as Tana left her chamber, Eirika got a bit annoyed by the attitude of her friend.

"Boy, is she contagious." Lyon said when noticing the look of sadness and some anger on her face.

"You didn't happen to offend her didn't you?" Ephraim asked.

A door slam resounded.

Eirika gulped, feeling like saying yes, but then she recoiled, "No!" she then gave Ephraim a disgusted look, "And believe me, that cocoa wasn't the only thing to made her wanna hurl. Ugh. Nasty."

* * *

"You heard that, foo! Priceless!? Irreplaceable?!! Nyeat!!!" Kyle screamed at the knights. The trio was in the basement looking for something that could closely fit the description of the star. But to no avail, they found nothing shining. The closest thing to be shiny was a twisted clothes hanger and used broken mirror glasses.

"Wait a minute…" Seth said, "Grab me that clothes hanger and those glasses."

Franz scooped them up, but cut his finger in the process.

"You okay?" Forde asked his brother.

"I'm fine." Franz kissed his bleeding finger.

"Here." Forde pulled from his pocket a small flask of clear liquid, "Use this alcohol."

"This ain't the time for feelings and all that stuffs." Kyle barked, "We have to make this star happening! Pronto! Underlain!"

"Kyle. Could you calm down? My brother's bleeding and I refuse to let this thing infected." Forde said.

Kyle got annoyed, "Well, if it wasn't for your recklessness, we wouldn't be in this situation where we have to grab all glasses from we don't know where—"

Forde abruptly interrupted, "Wait a minute, we? There's maybe a 'we' coming out of your potty mouth, but there's no such thing in your heartless dictionary!"

"Heartless—!"

The knights began arguing until Seth screamed, "Enough you two! If this keeps up, we will never get this thing done!"

Kyle and Forde both pointed at each other, "He started it." They said.

* * *

Tana watched the snow falling. The wind recently ceased, meaning the snow could stop at anytime. She was all alone and for the first time felt at ease without the family meddling in her business.

"Hi Tana!"

Tana jumped. Eirika smiled at her, carrying a gold platter of goodies, "I baked you cookies. Christmas cookies. With red, green and white sprinkles."

Tana sighed frustratingly, "How many times am I going to tell you that I'm not hungry?" she took off. Eirika went after her.

"Come on. One bite wouldn't hurt."

Just at that moment, Innes entered the scene. The moment he saw Tana, he growled, "Ohh, it's you again, Ms. Christmas Killer."

"Innes…" Eirika tried to speak but Innes didn't stop, "No, no, Eirika. Don't 'Innes…' me. Do as I say, find out what's bothering her, and make sure she doesn't kill _my_ Christmas."

When Tana heard that, her attention fully focused on Eirika, "What?"

Eirika shook her head, "Tana, don't listen to him."

"Innes hired you to spy on me?" Tana's voice elevated.

Eirika faced Innes, puzzled, "What? No! Innes didn't hired me—"

"LIES!" Tana screamed, "Filthy lies! And through your teeth even. Here's what I do to your fake appreciation." She thunderously slammed the cookie platter to the ground, spilling all the cookies.

Eirika suddenly felt angry. She gave Tana a fuming glare. Tana's glare was even worse.

The noise brought the family to the scene, "What's going on here?" Hayden asked.

Tana left without another word, and Ephraim smiled at his father, "Do you think that this is the perfect time for you to get me that crystal gem now?"

* * *

"Tana?"

Eirika saw Tana lying face down on Eirika's bed. The Frelia princess sat up when she heard Eirika, and turned her back on her. She still looked bummed and annoyed.

"Hey, are you all right?" Eirika asked her friend.

Instead of a simple response, Tana twisted to her side to face Eirika and began shouting, "What? Did you came to check up on me or did Innes sent you?"

Eirika got annoyed in response to Tana's tone, "Tana. What's wrong with you? Why are you being so negative? Why can't you be in a holiday cheer for like at least a second?"

"Do you really wanna know?"

"Yes!"

"Do you _really_ wanna know?"

"Yes!!"

"Well, I can't tell you."

"Why not?"

"Because you don't know!"

"What do I _possibly _not know?"

"You don't know what it's like to spend Christmas without someone you love!"

That really confused Eirika. Was this some sort of a boyfriend problem? "What are you talking about? You got everyone you love here!" she clarified, "You have your father, you have your brother, you have—"

Before she could say her next word, she cut herself short. "Oh."

Tana knew where she was getting at, "Oh?" she said bitterly, "So oh is your choice of words?"

Eirika sighed, "Tana, I know you miss your mom, but—"

"No, you don't know I miss my mom." Tana said hotly, "And you know why I think that? Because you never had one. You're lucky."

Now it was Eirika's turn to get mad, "I'm lucky? _I'm _lucky?! Do you have _any _idea how much this hurts me to hear you say that, Tana?! _I'm_ the one who should tell you that you're lucky! You got the chance to celebrate Christmas with your mom until the plague took her! I never got the chance!"

Tana turned silent when she noticed a tear streaming down Eirika's cheek. Eirika wasn't finished, "Ephraim and I were born without a mom. The only parent we have is father. Father…" she paused briefly, "when it comes to Christmas, he's really into the spirit, he makes up all of these traditions, the tree decoration, the shopping days, the quality time with some hot eggnog or cocoa, but his cooking," she laughed a bit when mentioning that, "boy, they aren't that good. Remember the eggnog balls from last year?"

Tana laughed a bit also.

"I'm sure Mom would make them better." She sighed.

There was this awkward silence between the girls.

"How does he take it?" Tana asked.

"Ephraim?" Eirika shrugged, "I don't know. I wish I could read his mind but I do know he feels exactly the same way as I feel… Tana…" she held her friend's hands, "You don't know how lucky you are. You had your chance to spend Christmas with your entire family, but Ephraim and I…not even a single Christmas with our mom… but it's better to spend it with one parent than with no one."

There was this silence again.

"Eirika, did I really bum everyone's Christmas?" Tana asked.

Eirika shook her head, "No, no. You didn't. No one did… well, I would say Ephraim bummed _my _Christmas, but that would be wrong."

Tana laughed at her joke.

"It shouldn't have gone that far to hurt you, Eirika. I wasn't really in the Christmas spirit. I hope we can be friends again."

Eirika smiled, "No. Let's be sisters."

With that, the two girls share a heartfelt hug.

"This is the perfect time to give you your present." Eirika went to her armoire, "I personally handpicked it myself."

"Aw, Eirika. That's nice. But Christmas Day is in two days."

"I know." Eirika pulled out a small white jewelry box with a gold bow on it, "But I couldn't wait. Here. Open it."

"You shouldn't ha—" she gave a gasp at the sight of a silver pendant with a ruby diamond on it when she opened the box. The diamond displayed a holographic picture of two hugging women who highly resembled Eirika and Tana.

"Oh my, Eirika! That's…that's…"

"My mom's keepsake necklace. It has a picture of her and her best friend. Proof of my undying friendship to you." Eirika said.

Tana was now the one to feel tears in her eyes, "Thank you."

They share another heartfelt hug.

* * *

"It's done!" Seth admired the star he made with the glasses and the clothes hanger. The hanger was broken in pieces and formed into a star, and the pieces of glasses were scotched together. It almost looked like the real thing, but more skinnier and fragile.

"Wow. We did a pretty good job." Franz said.

"I know." Forde said.

"And that's because we worked together." Kyle said, "It was almost like a puzzle, but impossible."

"Now, I guess it's time we put this little sucker where it belongs." Seth said.

"But first, I would like to apologize to Forde." Kyle faced Forde, "My apologies for lashing out on you and your brother. Forgive me as well Franz. I guess I was being selfish."

Forde shook his head, "No, Kyle. We were selfish. All of that talk about who should have the honor to put the Christmas Star on top of the tree got the better of us."

"Same here." Franz raised his hand.

"Here too." Seth said as well.

The knights left the basement and ended up in the throne room, where they caught Ephraim. The prince was off his wheelchair, dancing and grooving to an upbeat music. He never even had a leg injury, nor a back injury. Ephraim was nothing but a great actor and a liar.

"Prince Ephraim!" The knights gasped.

Ephraim looked up. His eyes stretched open. He felt busted but if he said something fast, they won't get onto him, "Oh…err, hi guys… see. What happened was—"

"Ahem." Someone cleared its throat behind the prince. He turned around. Lyon, Hayden, Vigarde, and Fado all had the same grim look fixed on the prince. Now he was busted!

He quickly declared to the ceiling, "It's a Christmas miracle!"

* * *

Sunset came upon the continent of Magvel and the snow has reduced from howling winds to a few speckles. I won't be a matter of time till the weather reports declare that there won't be anymore snowing for a while, although Christmas Day was fast approaching.

The Renais-Frelia-Grado family has gathered around the tree to witness the Christmas Star being placed on top, by the three knights…at the same time.

"Before we get into this ceremony, let me please remind you that we worked hard on this decoration as a team." Seth said.

"So, if you see anything abnormal." Franz said, "Please, please, _please _don't get suspicious."

"Cause suspicion kills the cat." Forde grinned.

"It's curiosity." Kyle corrected Forde.

"That too."

"And so to reward ourselves," Seth continued, "The three of us will place this Christmas Star on top."

Hayden leaned to Fado, "Is it just me, or is your star in horrible shape?"

The knights slowly held the fake star and made their way to the tree top. Their awkward movement bought the family more suspicion.

Just as the knights placed the artifact on the tree top, the star left the tree top and all the glass shattered into a million pieces, only to leave the hanger.

"That's not the Christmas Star! It's fake!" Innes picked up the clothes hangar, "like Ephraim."

Ephraim rolled his eyes. Sure he got busted and was punished with no crystal gem and gift card, but he didn't want to have his face rubbed on it.

The knights went down on their knees protesting nonstop, "OKAY! OKAY! YOU BUST US UP!!!"

"We shattered the Christmas Star!" Seth shouted.

"But we didn't do it on purpose!!" Kyle cried.

"It was too fragile!!" Forde screamed.

"And we were reckless, naïve and all that stuff!!!" Franz whined.

"We're sorry!!"

"Sorry?" the family all said. The knights squinted, bracing themselves for their punishment.

"Why didn't you just say so?" Fado said with a smile, "We could have brought another star from the basement."

"There was another star?" the knights all gave a gasp then fainted.

* * *

END

* * *


End file.
